The Contino Sessions - Death In Vegas

Lord knows why I bother writing these opinions, because, as per usual, no- one ever reads them. But, as the Beautiful South once said- i'll carry on regardless. Death In Vegas started life as 'Dead Elvis', but had to change their name after some unwanted attention from the King himself's estate. So, instead, they called their debut album Dead Elvis, and re-named themselves 'Death In Vegas'. 'Dead Elvis' was OK, not brilliant, except for the excellent single 'Dirt' (think 'Dirge', but faster and more groovy), but it could never match the dizzying heights that this album reaches. 'Dirge' features Dot ...  Read the complete review

One day in late 1999 I was sitting drinking in a bar in Manchester with a group of friends when the NME Carling Tour came rolling in, promoting an ‘up-and-coming’ band called Death in Vegas. We were all ignorant of the band, and largely due to consuming a stupid amount of free Carling at the event, spent the next hour attempting to humiliate the band with inane questions during a public question and answer session with them. At the end of the Q and A, band member Richard Fearless came over to out table to tell us that he was putting us on the guest-list for their gig that evening so that we could see what they were really like. We took him up on this ...  Read the complete review

Riding on the back some impressive critical reactions, I went out and bought this album without even hearing a single track. I always find this exciting, as you never really know what to expect when the laser hits the groove. More often than not if there is a common consensus that an album is quality it's worth taking the risk. The album opens with the impressive desert drawl 'Dirge', which has a hypnotic groove generated by the sweetest guitar strum and cowgirl vocals by the divine Dot Allison. Every smoke filled indie dive should have it on its pre-gig playlist. There is sublime Orbital leanings on 'Flying', all oblique synth moments on ...  Read the complete review

Doctor Frankenstein-like Richard Fearless and his Igor Tim Holmes have created a monster. The Contino Session, Death in Vegas second LP, certainly has the aura of a stormy genesis in some mountaintop castle. Gothic guitars grind whilst moody organ prowls throughout the tracks, as each nightmare musicbox piece unwinds. Basically, it couldn't be much more removed from the Dubby big beat of their first LP. Several tracks feature guest vocalists, including Bobby G on the edgy trip hop of Soul Auctioneer, and notably the mighty Iggy Pop on Aisha. Aisha is just brilliant; Iggy growls and screams about being stalked by a serial killer, over a tightly wound guitar ...  Read the complete review

Death In Vegas' s first album Dead Elvis was a mixed bag of styles. With music ranging from dance to dub to hard edged rock. The Contino Sessions sees Death in Vegas working around a more focussed sound, a dark psychedelic music closer to the sound of sixties proto-punk bands like MC5 and The Stooges and the Seventies Kraut rock bands like Can than the big beat/electronica scene that they had been previously associated with. (Mainly due to Richard Fearless' DJing at the legendary Heavenly Social). Richard Fearless has moved Death in Vegas's sound in a more concentrated direction. This works as the Contino Sessions comes across as stronger album than ...  Read the complete review